1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns as apparatus for adjusting the sights of a gun, and more particularly an apparatus for adjusting the telescopic sight on a rifle.
2. General Discussion of the Background of the Invention
A problem frequently encountered by hunters, marksmen and users of firearms is that telescopic sights on the firearms move out of alignment with the axis of the rifle barrel. Once this happens a hunter's or marksman's aim is seriously affected since the gun will not point at the target shown in the gun sight. As a result, even the most careful marksman will miss his target since the bullet will not travel in the anticipated direction.
An apparatus for realigning gun sights was proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,333,385 in which a gun support was slidably supported upon a base so tht the recoil of the gun could be absorbed by the sliding movement of the rifle relative to the base. A rifle can be fixed in the gun support with the telescopic sight pointed at the bull's-eye of a target. When the gun is fired, the bullet will travel in the direction that the rifle barrel is pointed, thereby missing the bull's-eye if the sight and barrel are out alignment. The telescopic sight can then be pointed to the hole made by the bullet to realign the telescopic sight with the true direction of the rifle barrel. The problem with this device is that the sliding movement of the gun support relative to the base only absorbs the horizontal component of the recoil of the gun. In reality there are vertical and horizontal components of recoil, and the imperfect absorption of recoil gives rise to small movements of the apparatus which make it impossible to accurately realign the gun sight.
It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide an apparatus for aligning gun sights which absorbs both the horizontal and vertical components of the recoil of the gun.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a lightweight yet durable and portable apparatus which can be easily used outdoors.